Retro Toy Chest: Roy Rogers presents a "quick shooting hat" (1961)

 Ideal contracted with Western legend Roy Rogers for a little novelty that was gone before the end of the 60's.

Roy Rogers' Quick Shooting Hat was just a passing fad.

From Comics to Toons: Richie Rich vs. The Blur (1980)

 Richie Rich (Sparky Marcus) is on the case when "The Blur" raids the mansion. 

Rating: B.

Toons After Dark: The pilot reel for Futurama (1999)

 A 20th century delivery courier (Billy West) ends up putting himself in suspended animation, and lands 1000 years in the future. That's the basic premise behind Futurama, but, most of you probably haven't seen how this all went down.

In the 6+ minute short, we see how it happens. Also co-starring Katey Segal (ex-Married....With Children) and John DiMaggio.

Rating: B.

Tooniversary: Matterhorn Droopy (1980)

 Slick Wolf scams Droopy out of a tuition fee for a rescue dog school. Oh, is he ever going to regret that!!!

Frank Welker voices both Droopy & Slick in "Matterhorn Droopy":

A return to classic form.

Rating: A-.

Coming Attractions: A live-action Scooby-Doo? Yep, on Netflix

 Zoinks! Scooby-Doo returns to live-action, after 2 feature films (2002 & 2004) and some Chumptoon Network films, but this time, it's an 8 episode series on Netflix. Start date not yet announced, but the streamer announced today that the project is moving forward.

Courtesy Warner Bros. Discovery

It's a prequel to the franchise, in which Shaggy & Daphne are at summer camp searching for a missing dog (Scooby), and meet Velma & Fred along the way. Greg Berlanti and his staff are attached to the series, which wouldn't be the first for Berlanti at Netflix, since You moved over from Lifetime a few years back.

Stay tooned.

Saturday Morning Ringside: Remembering the voice of World Class Championship Wrestling, Bill Mercer (1926-2025)

 Bill Mercer wasn't just a wrestling announcer. He was a legend in Texas, as he covered a number of different sports.

Wrestling fans, though, remember him as the voice of World Class Championship Wrestling, which went into national syndication, arriving in the 518 in 1984. Mercer passed away over the weekend at 99, a long, successful life lived. Mercer also helped launch the sports journalism program at the University of North Texas.

In his memory, we present a World Class show from 1983.

Rest in peace, Bill.

From Primetime to Daytime: The New Breed (1961)

 After legendary producer Quinn Martin left Desilu and The Untouchables, he spent a year patiently waiting for something to come along.

Unfortunately, The New Breed, the first series for Martin's own production company, lasted one season on ABC (1961-2).

So why are we talking about it in the Archives? Because for a brief period in the 70's, WRGB acquired the series as filler on Saturday afternoons, which is how I first became acquainted with the series. I have previously discussed this show over at The Land of Whatever.

Leslie Nielsen landed his first lead role as Lt. Price Adams, but the cancellation would begin a pattern of primetime failure for Nielsen over the course of 20+ years, ending with the little seen Shaping Up, also for ABC, which was a replacement series in the early 80's, post-Police Squad!. 

Future soap stars John Beradino and John Clarke co-starred. Selig Seligman's Selmur Productions co-produced Breed, and Seligman brought Beradino back for General Hospital in 1963.

In "The Compulsion to Confess", future Kojak Telly Savalas plays a psychologist who helps Adams solve a series of murders. Future director Sydney Pollack also guests, and look quick for cameos by Stafford Repp (later of General Hospital & Batman) and Olan Soule, who was running the risk of being typecast, since he was brought in to play a lab technician, his primary role on Dragnet.

Toonfomercial: Meet the Dairy Queen (1961)

 Dairy Queen is celebrating its 85th anniversary this year, but there aren't that many locations left in the 518.

But, did you know that the chain actually did have an animated "mascot"?

The animated Dairy Queen debuted in 1961. Here she is in this ad with golden age style animation:

Max gives up on Looney Tunes. Tubi says, we'll take 'em

 Warner Bros Discovery, in their never-ending quest to destroy their own legacy, decided to pull every remaining Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies short from Max. Again, it's in the name of saving money, and, also, in the warped, misguided mindset of WBD suits, to move the streamer further away from animation and toward live-action programming for families, if the kiddos want something to watch. Lord knows, WBD already decided they weren't renewing their contract for Sesame Street, which likely will find a new primary broadcast home, or just go back to airing first-run episodes on PBS.

But, there is a light at the end of this tunnel.

On April 1, fittingly, April Fools Day, shows like The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries & The Looney Tunes Show, along with a number of other properties, including some Scooby-Doo movies, are heading over to Tubi (they swear this isn't a joke), which already has The Flintstones, Tom & Jerry, & some older Scooby-Doo content.

The Looney Tunes Show

In time, the shorts will gravitate over to Tubi and/or Me-TV Toons, proving once again how short-sighted the thinking is of David Zaslav and his staff at WBD.

In other WB news, as you may know by now, an independent studio, which acquired "The Day The Earth Blew Up" for a recent theatrical release, is now seeking to pick up "Coyote vs. ACME", starring Wile E. Coyote with human co-stars Will Forte & John Cena. Ketchup Entertainment was able to generate $3 million in box office receipts for "Earth", and are hoping to do the same with "Coyote". Go for it, y'all.

Wouldn't be at all surprised if both movies eventually air on a non-WBD network, like, oh, I don't know, USA? Stay tooned.

Toon Legends: Heckle & Jeckle in The Robot Factory (1979)

 Heckle & Jeckle are hired by "The Robot Factory" to solve a mystery, and run into chaos. All voices performed by Frank Welker.

Rating: B.

Saturday School: An episode of Drawing Power (1980)

 The producers of Drawing Power flubbed it just a wee bit with the Superperson U skit in this episode. Why? Because one of the "heroes" is named Captain Boomerang. Comics fans know that the Captain was an enemy of The Flash & Batman back in the day, and had battled the latter a few months prior to this episode airing.

Check the episode, and you'll see what I mean.

In memory of Lenny Schultz, who has passed away at 91 (!!!!). Drawing Power was Lenny's final series for NBC after he'd been part of the short-lived Laugh-In revival 3 years earlier. Rest in peace.

Teenage Toons: A complete episode of The Hardy Boys (1969)

 We've stated before that Filmation's adaptation of The Hardy Boys was loose, to allow for some bubblegum pop.

This episode offers adaptations of two Hardys novels, The Short Wave Mystery & The Hooded Hawk Mystery.

Rating: B-.

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Tonto in Forest of Death (1966)

 From season 1 of Format Films' The Lone Ranger:

Tonto (Shep Menken) pursues mad Professor Sumac (Hans Conreid) through a "Forest of Death".

Cliched and predictable.

Rating: B.

Toon Sports: Baseball Fever (Disney's Wonderful World, 1979)

 In 1979, at the request of then-NBC programming chief Fred Silverman, Disney's Sunday package was rechristened, Disney's Wonderful World. Unfortunately, this cosmetic change, coupled with a more contemporary theme song, didn't help the flagging ratings, as this iteration lasted two seasons.

As we are in baseball's preseason, it's fitting, then, to present "Baseball Fever", a compilation of shorts, including "Casey at The Bat", narrated by Jerry Colonna, and its sequel, "Casey Bats Again", which we've previously featured, and a copius amount of Goofy and Donald Duck.

Gary Owens was brought on board as the announcer. Casey Kasem, then a studio announcer at NBC on top of everything else on his schedule, is heard at the end of the show for network plugs.

Some segments were edited for copyright reasons.

Rating: B.

A complete episode of The Reluctant Dragon & Mr. Toad (1970-1)

 After first-run episodes of The Reluctant Dragon & Mr. Toad Show had ended, Rankin-Bass & ABC mixed up the episodes to try to refresh them for viewers that might've missed them the first time.

This package consists of:

"A Cold Day in Willowmarch": The 1st Reluctant Dragon short from September 1970. Paul Soles, fresh from Spider-Man, voices Tobias.

"20,000 Inches Under The Sea": The Mr. Toad finale is a parody of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, which itself had been adapted as a feature film years earlier, and would be adapted in animated form a few years later.

"Sir Tobias": The Dragon becomes a temporary knight in this short from November.

Rating: B.

Toons After Dark: Happy Birthday Bugs: 50 Looney Years (1990)

 CBS, at the time the home of the Bugs Bunny-Road Runner Show, honored Bugs on his 50th anniversary with a primetime special.

Now, I remember watching this the night it aired. This show was loaded with guests including Milton Berle, Pierce Brosnan, Fred Savage (The Wonder Years), George Peppard, William Shatner, Whoopi Goldberg, Joan Rivers, Little Richard, Joe Garagiola, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, and, as a used car salesman, Shadoe Stevens (American Top 40, ex-Max Monroe, Loose Cannon, Hollywood Squares). They crammed so much into an hour, they should've gotten 2, but this was on Friday night, and no way was CBS pre-empting Dallas.

Of course Daffy's jealous. What did ya expect?

Rating: A.

Toon Legends: Mighty Mouse in The Star of Cucamonga (1979)

 Mighty Mouse is on the trail of 'The Star of Cucamonga" after Pearl Pureheart (Diane Pershing) and the Star are snatched by Oil Can Harry (Alan Oppenheimer).

Wikipedia claims producer Lou Scheimer voiced Mighty Mouse. Why do I have a hard time believing that? Anyway, on with the action. Oppenheimer also narrates and voices Harry's sidekick, Swifty.

Apparently, Filmation felt that Harry had to be the be-all, end-all arch-enemy, even though his earlier appearances were in those operatic shorts. They needed Harry to be the bumbling villain who never won. Luckily, when the franchise was given to Ralph Bakshi a few years later, Harry wasn't a major player.

Rating: B.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: Flying High (1974)

 From US of Archie:

Following the lead of Fat Albert & The Cosby Kids, short musical numbers followed each episode of this 1 season series. Attached to the episode with the Wright Brothers, here's "Flying High":

Saturday Morning's Forgotten Heroes: Peter Potamus in Wrong Time, No See (1966)

 Per Wikipedia, ABC placed Peter Potamus on Sundays after acquiring the series in January 1966. This season 2 offering has Peter (Daws Butler) & So-So (Don Messick) encountering one bad sitch after another in "Wrong Time, No See":

Rating: B.

Retro Toy Chest: Fashion Plates (1981)

 Tomy introduced Fashion Plates in 1981, teaching young ladies how to design their own outfits. A few years later, Hasbro acquired Fashion Plates, which lasted until 1992.

Here's an introductory ad from Tomy from 1981.

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits: Talking in Your Sleep (1983)

 The Romantics' 1st single off 1983's "In Heat" was "Talking in Your Sleep", not to be confused with country singer Crystal Gayle's hit of the same name. The Romantics' "Talking" landed them on American Bandstand.

Celebrity Toons: That Girl in Wonderland (Saturday Superstar Movie, 1973)

 From season 2 of the ABC Saturday Superstar Movie:

That Girl had been in syndication for a while, first-run production having ended 3 years earlier, when Rankin-Bass was asked to adapt the series into a 1-shot that one YouTuber said was a pilot.

Marlo Thomas reprises as Ann Marie, and is the only cast member returning for "That Girl in Wonderland" (italics mine).

This wasn't Marlo's 1st rodeo with Rankin-Bass. You'll recall she and papa Danny worked with R-B on "Cricket on The Hearth" 6 years earlier (which Danny co-produced). Forgive the poor video quality.

No rating. Just a public service.

George Lowe (1957-2025)

 George Lowe, the 2nd man to essay the role of Space Ghost, after the iconic Gary Owens, passed away on Sunday.

Lowe and the creative staff on Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast and its sister series, Cartoon Planet, took great pleasure in deconstructing Space Ghost and his adversaries in a parody of late night talk shows that served as the inspiration for [adult swim], which launched in 2001, well after Coast had reached its creative peak.

Lowe has also been heard on such shows as American Dad, and reprised as Space Ghost one final time on Jellystone a couple of years back.

Rest in peace.

Retro Toy Chest: Spellbound (1975)

 In the mid-70's, entertainer Jerry Lewis entered into an agreement with Hasbro for a series of board games, for which he'd do the commercials. He figured, since he bombed with an animated cartoon, board games can't be too worse.

Unfortunately, none of the Lewis games Hasbro produced survived the decade.

In this 1975 bit, Jerry is joined by Billy Barty (Sigmund & The Sea Monsters) and narrator Joe Sirola to plug Spellbound. 

Keep in mind that this was after Aurora had hired Don Adams to promote their Skittle line of games.